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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

RRCA Running Coach Certification

Last night I completed step one of the process to becoming a Certified Running Coach through Road Runners Club of America (RRCA)! The really good news is that step one is becoming CPR and First-Aid certified, which means I can save your life after I kick your booty. Isn't that considerate of me? I thought so.

Along my running journey through the years, I've helped unofficially "coach" some newbies through their first race. Seeing someone cross the finish line at their first race is hands-down one of the most rewarding feelings as a runner. A few months ago I looked into getting my nutritionist certification because aside from the running aspect, what you fuel yourself with is just as important. I did a little more digging and decided that I had to follow my true love and go with the RRCA cert! The two day course coming up in August covers exercise physiology, running form, training technique, injury prevention, psychology of running and sports nutrition! I feel like I'm kind of killing two birds with one stone going this route. I don't have any regrets in life, but I will say that if I had been this into running out of high school I would have gone a totally different route with my college education. Exercise physiology and sports psychology is completely fascinating to me! I'm a book nerd and by books I mean actual books, ones where you can actually turn pages. Remember those? I'm always on the hunt for something new to read on the subject. Our brains need food too! A lot of what I read goes into the "the shredder" as my husband likes to call it. In the world of nutrition and fitness everyone and their third cousin has an opinion and believes it is the only right answer. I take the nuggets that I like out of each book and mentally shred the rest. Getting my RRCA certification is another piece of my "I want all of the knowledge I can handle" puzzle. Do I plan on turning it into a full blown coaching business? Part-time, sure. I firmly believe that we are put on this earth to serve others in some form or fashion. If I can share the knowledge I gain from this with others to help them achieve their goals, sign me up.

"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others." - Albert Schweitzer

One of the things I love most about running is there are no shortcuts. You either do the work, or you don't. If you do the work, you get the result. Simple. I'm a simple kind of gal.